Also read: Building Bonds: Keeping Up the
Relationship
Mother figure keeps morale, shop culture strong and is the tie that binds
Mother figure keeps morale, shop culture strong and is the tie that binds
SnapshopName: Cascade Auto Body
Location: Vancouver, Wash.
Founded: Shop became Cascade Auto Body when co-owners Paul and Dorothy Mabie took it over in 1976.Size: There is 21,000 sq. ft. of useable production space and 3,000 sq. ft. of office space. Employees: Twenty-two. Two teams of two bodymen, with plans to add another person. Three people in the paint department and two in mechanical. Annual Gross Sales: About $2.6 million per year.Equipment/Bays: Two downdraft spraybooths; two frame machines; three floor-unit mounting systems; two estimating bays; a measuring system; spot welders and about six metal-inert gas (MIG) welders; four-way alignment tire system; and balancing equipment.Volume/Production: About 30 vehicles per week (about six per day) and about 120 vehicles per month. The mechanical repair to collision repair ratio is about 15 percent to 85 percent. This translates to about 100 vehicles per month as collision repair and about 20 as mechanical repair.In almost every family, there is one person who serves as the referee or mediator. It’s this person who others go to when there is intra-family conflict or that family members rely on to hold the family together, especially in tough times. At Cascade Auto Body in Vancouver, Wash., where the employees function as a family unit, co-owner Dorothy Mabie takes on the “mother” role. Not only is Mabie the mother of two Cascade employees and wife to co-owner Paul Mabie, but also the mother hen to everyone at the combination collision repair-mechanical repair facility. “She [Dorothy Mabie] is the glue that holds this place together,” says Dawn Mabie, Cascade’s general manager, public relations manager and daughter of Paul and Dorothy Mabie. The techs come to Dorothy to talk not only about work issues but also about their love lives, their family problems and anything else troubling them. Dorothy says Cascade’s management takes a “tremendous interest” in every person that works there. “If I become aware that anyone is having a hard time, I make myself available if they’d like to talk. I’m a good listener. That’s probably the biggest reason they come to me.”“Dorothy takes it upon herself to walk around the shop and be a sounding board for everyone,” says Michelle Fennimore, Cascade’s financial manager and daughter of Paul and Dorothy. “We find that when techs talk to ‘Mom,’ she gives them motherly advice. She plays a really important role...they respect her for it. It would be a different place without her.”That’s part of what makes Cascade what it is—a tight-knit shop of 22 employees. It’s this kind of culture that has given the shop its character and helped build its clientele. But it’s difficult when it comes to replacing technicians. There are plenty of techs who are qualified enough to work for Cascade, but they don’t necessarily fit in with the Cascade “family.”“Everyone in the bodyshop is friends [with one another],” he says. “They are pretty clean-cut, family-oriented guys and very willing to help each other. They hold each other to very high standards.” And they expect the same from new employees.
When Paul started Cascade, he began with a small building that was built in 1904 and was previously a trolley barn. After being a manufacturer’s rep for several years, he decided he wanted his own business. So Paul purchased the old barn in 1976, which was the Vancouver Bus Co. at the time and was housing the Rosemere Body Shop for bus repair. Paul improved on the ramshackle building but kept its main structure intact because of its history. In 1995, he built an additional 13,000-sq. ft. building on 1.5 acres of property to house the paint department. Through the facility expansion and many changes that took place, it didn’t change the family focus of the business. Dawn came on board at Cascade in February 1993, just a couple years before the new building was erected. She got involved out of concern for her parents long working hours.Dawn told her father of her plans to join the business. “My dad said, ‘I’ve been waiting for you to say that,’” she says. “I wanted to help out. My folks have been so good to me and have blessed me in so many ways.”She started at the front desk as a receptionist and gradually learned customer service. Dawn had worked previously as a customer service person in the furniture industry. “I saw an opportunity with our family,” she says. “I knew it could blossom if we all pulled together.”
Michelle felt the same way as her sister and joined the business in September 2001. She was in New York doing market research in advertising for several prestigious firms, but in 1995, she decided to return home and start her own market research business.
But because of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack, much of the work she expected to come her way fell through. “I was looking for another opportunity to help supplement my income, and Mom and Dad weren’t completely happy with what was happening financially,” Michelle says. So she began working at Cascade part time doing all the financial work, such as bookkeeping, payroll, 401 (K) plans, etc., while maintaining her market research business full time. Now that some of the work has been redistributed by having Dawn and Michelle at Cascade, Paul has more time for production, which has helped ramp up sales and revenue. In January, the shop went from repairing six cars per day to doing seven per day. By the end of the spring quarter, Paul says, he plans on making this a permanent production volume. With the entire family, both biological and shop-adopted family, he’s confident this will happen. “We are truly a family business,” Paul says.
Location: Vancouver, Wash.
Founded: Shop became Cascade Auto Body when co-owners Paul and Dorothy Mabie took it over in 1976.Size: There is 21,000 sq. ft. of useable production space and 3,000 sq. ft. of office space. Employees: Twenty-two. Two teams of two bodymen, with plans to add another person. Three people in the paint department and two in mechanical. Annual Gross Sales: About $2.6 million per year.Equipment/Bays: Two downdraft spraybooths; two frame machines; three floor-unit mounting systems; two estimating bays; a measuring system; spot welders and about six metal-inert gas (MIG) welders; four-way alignment tire system; and balancing equipment.Volume/Production: About 30 vehicles per week (about six per day) and about 120 vehicles per month. The mechanical repair to collision repair ratio is about 15 percent to 85 percent. This translates to about 100 vehicles per month as collision repair and about 20 as mechanical repair.In almost every family, there is one person who serves as the referee or mediator. It’s this person who others go to when there is intra-family conflict or that family members rely on to hold the family together, especially in tough times. At Cascade Auto Body in Vancouver, Wash., where the employees function as a family unit, co-owner Dorothy Mabie takes on the “mother” role. Not only is Mabie the mother of two Cascade employees and wife to co-owner Paul Mabie, but also the mother hen to everyone at the combination collision repair-mechanical repair facility. “She [Dorothy Mabie] is the glue that holds this place together,” says Dawn Mabie, Cascade’s general manager, public relations manager and daughter of Paul and Dorothy Mabie. The techs come to Dorothy to talk not only about work issues but also about their love lives, their family problems and anything else troubling them. Dorothy says Cascade’s management takes a “tremendous interest” in every person that works there. “If I become aware that anyone is having a hard time, I make myself available if they’d like to talk. I’m a good listener. That’s probably the biggest reason they come to me.”“Dorothy takes it upon herself to walk around the shop and be a sounding board for everyone,” says Michelle Fennimore, Cascade’s financial manager and daughter of Paul and Dorothy. “We find that when techs talk to ‘Mom,’ she gives them motherly advice. She plays a really important role...they respect her for it. It would be a different place without her.”That’s part of what makes Cascade what it is—a tight-knit shop of 22 employees. It’s this kind of culture that has given the shop its character and helped build its clientele. But it’s difficult when it comes to replacing technicians. There are plenty of techs who are qualified enough to work for Cascade, but they don’t necessarily fit in with the Cascade “family.”“Everyone in the bodyshop is friends [with one another],” he says. “They are pretty clean-cut, family-oriented guys and very willing to help each other. They hold each other to very high standards.” And they expect the same from new employees.
When Paul started Cascade, he began with a small building that was built in 1904 and was previously a trolley barn. After being a manufacturer’s rep for several years, he decided he wanted his own business. So Paul purchased the old barn in 1976, which was the Vancouver Bus Co. at the time and was housing the Rosemere Body Shop for bus repair. Paul improved on the ramshackle building but kept its main structure intact because of its history. In 1995, he built an additional 13,000-sq. ft. building on 1.5 acres of property to house the paint department. Through the facility expansion and many changes that took place, it didn’t change the family focus of the business. Dawn came on board at Cascade in February 1993, just a couple years before the new building was erected. She got involved out of concern for her parents long working hours.Dawn told her father of her plans to join the business. “My dad said, ‘I’ve been waiting for you to say that,’” she says. “I wanted to help out. My folks have been so good to me and have blessed me in so many ways.”She started at the front desk as a receptionist and gradually learned customer service. Dawn had worked previously as a customer service person in the furniture industry. “I saw an opportunity with our family,” she says. “I knew it could blossom if we all pulled together.”
Michelle felt the same way as her sister and joined the business in September 2001. She was in New York doing market research in advertising for several prestigious firms, but in 1995, she decided to return home and start her own market research business.
But because of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack, much of the work she expected to come her way fell through. “I was looking for another opportunity to help supplement my income, and Mom and Dad weren’t completely happy with what was happening financially,” Michelle says. So she began working at Cascade part time doing all the financial work, such as bookkeeping, payroll, 401 (K) plans, etc., while maintaining her market research business full time. Now that some of the work has been redistributed by having Dawn and Michelle at Cascade, Paul has more time for production, which has helped ramp up sales and revenue. In January, the shop went from repairing six cars per day to doing seven per day. By the end of the spring quarter, Paul says, he plans on making this a permanent production volume. With the entire family, both biological and shop-adopted family, he’s confident this will happen. “We are truly a family business,” Paul says.
